Shopping mall
Gostiny Dvor
Nevsky pr., 35, Sankt-Peterburg, 191186
Neoclassical arcaded trading hall stretching over a kilometer, rebuilt after wartime bombing destroyed it.
This guide to Gostiny Dvor in Saint Petersburg opens on September 19, 1941, the morning German bombers struck this arcade during Leningrad's deadliest single raid of the siege. It traces back to Empress Elizabeth's order to build the trading hall in the 1750s, and the French architect who spent nearly three decades raising its kilometer of arches along Nevsky Prospekt. Best heard while walking the long colonnade facing Nevsky Prospekt.
Audio guides are written and narrated by AI.